


Blue Fire

by historyofamanda



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Kissing, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 17:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12281040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historyofamanda/pseuds/historyofamanda
Summary: Zaeed and Shepard help each other.





	Blue Fire

The lowest deck of the new Normandy SR-2 wasn’t being used much outside of loading and unloading into the shuttle. Shepard took it upon herself to build a makeshift firing range down there so she could test out new weapons more easily before and after missions. 

After dinner one night, she walked down to the lower level and picked up on her project where she had left off the night before. About an hour passed and while she was hammering away at one of the targets, she heard the elevator door swish open. The noise startled her and she quickly looked up.

Zaeed walked out of the elevator, looking down at the floor. His expression was distant, pensive.

The moment he looked up and made eye contact with Shepard he snapped out of his daze.

Her eyes were a shade of blue that he found he had trouble describing, the closest being the color that a fire turned when he threw a bottle of whiskey in it. Sometimes he felt like her eyes were so blue, he could hardly stand to look at them without them burning away a piece of him.

He looked her over, taking more time than he should have to examine her body. Her jet black hair was tied back in a messy bun, some loose strands trickling down her face. She was wearing dark blue and jeans a tight black tank top that accentuated her toned physique. From the moment they met, couldn’t help but find himself staring at her every time she was near him.

“Oh, Zaeed, hey.” Shepard said, a tired smile on her face.

“Shepard.” Zaeed replied. “What the hell are you doing down here?”

Shepard leaned up against a table near her and crossed her arms.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I uh-come down here sometimes to get some quiet, get out of that dinky little room with the trash compactor that I’m always cooped up in. Tomorrow’s the day. Getting some payback for that fucking asshole Vido. Couldn’t sleep, so I came down here.”

“Sorry, but you’re not going to be getting much quiet down here for the next few hours.”

“You buildin’ something?” Zaeed asked, curious. His eyes darted between hers and a more comfortable view of the wall.

“A firing range. Been my little project for a few weeks now.”

“That’s a goddamn brilliant idea. Be nice to have something to shoot around here that doesn’t shoot back.” Zaeed joked.

Shepard laughed.

Zaeed wasn’t disappointed about losing his quiet spot for the night, but rather very excited to have some alone time with the commander.

“Need any help?” He offered.

Shepard smiled and grabbed a wrench from the table next to her.

She walked up to him slowly and placed the wrench in his hand. 

“Help would be very much appreciated.” She said, her voice smooth.

Zaeed gulped. He had met countless women and been with quite a few of them, but none of them fascinated him and turned him on like Shepard did. She was quiet, brilliant, calculating, and absolutely deadly. She was unlike anyone he had ever met before, and he felt a pull to her that was almost magnetic. He’d spent months fighting alongside her now, and the pull he felt towards her only grew stronger by the day

Shepard stood up on a ladder and placed her completed target on an already prepared hook. When she reached up to hook it on, Zaeed stole a glimpse of her midriff as her shirt rose up the tiniest bit, and it left him breathless.

“You know Shepard, I never really asked you. I know Cerberus can’t give two shits who they recruit as long as the job gets done, but is a former Alliance commander really alright with hiring a low life mercenary like me?”

Shepard got down from the ladder and exhaled, wiping her forehead. She took a nearby washcloth and wiped some grease off her hands.

She looked into Zaeed’s eyes again and he felt that all too familiar burning feeling flow through him.

“Oh, I know all about you Zaeed Massani.” She began, and his heart rate increased ten fold watching his name escape her lips.

“Raised in England just long enough to get the accent. Co-founder of the Blue Suns. Shot in the face by your so called ‘partner’ and you came out of it only more pissed off. The Shadow Broker asked you to crash the turian frigate Verrikan. Boom, crunch, smash, pow. Stabbed an ex-girlfriend in the process, right? There’s no way in hell you should’ve made it out alive of that. You’re the only one who did. Hmm. What a thoroughly sexy resume.”

Each word rolled off her tongue with an almost musical quality. He had never heard his background explained in such a succinct and thoroughly sensual way. His heart pounded in his chest.

“You think so?” He replied, his voice almost a growl.

“Indeed I do. So no, I don’t mind low life mercenaries one bit.”

The air between them was still and silent. Zaeed ached all over. He had never been teased this way, and it was driving him absolutely mad.

“Now, help me finish this up and I may let you have the honor of taking the first shot.” Shepard said, turning and walking away.

They spent the next two hours putting the final touches on Shepard’s firing range.

When they finally finished, they both sat on the ground near the operating console. They clinked their two beers together and each took a sip.

“2 weeks to finish this piece of shit firing range? You could’ve given me 6 hours and I would’ve made one better than the Citadel’s.” Zaeed teased.

Shepard laughed and slapped him on the arm.

“Asshole! Hey, the last two hours of this are partially your handiwork and it sure wasn’t a piece of shit before you walked in here and disturbed me, so what does that say about you?”

Zaeed laughed loudly.

“Disturbed you, did I? You’re welcome for the help!” He teased back.

The room fell silent again and he found himself burning up in her gaze yet again.

She broke the silence with sultry, soft words that made his heart skip a beat.

“Go get Jessie.”

———————

Zaeed went and retrieved Jesse from his room on the crew deck and on the elevator ride back down, he looked at her in his arms lovingly. It had been a long time since he fired the old girl, and he had missed her dearly.

When he returned he found Shepard back up on the ladder adjusting one of the targets.

When she stepped down, he saw that the human shaped target had a printed cut out of Vido Santiago’s face crudely taped on the head.

He burst out laughing the moment he exited the elevator. 

“What the hell is this?” He asked, still laughing.

“Come here!” Shepard replied.

Shepard had Zaeed stand on the edge of the firing range. She put her hands on his shoulders, setting his mind ablaze.

“Now, time your shot. Aim, and shoot the head off that lying, useless, putrid sack of shit.”

He took a deep breath.

“Commander’s orders.”

Her last words slid down his spine and nearly made him shiver.

He felt his insides stir for something other than overwhelming desire for Shepard at that moment. He knew he felt something more.

Bang.

The shot was cathartic to say the very least.

Zaeed looked up and there was a single, perfectly aimed bullet hole right in between paper Vido’s eyes. 

“Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!” Shepard cried out, jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

Zaeed smiled down at Jessie and then set her down gently on the console in front of him.

Zaeed walked up to Shepard, who was now leaning back on the end of the console. He left barely a foot of distance between the two of them.

“So, what’s my reward for christening the new firing range with the most perfect headshot in history?” He said, his voice low and barely above a whisper.

Both of their breathing quickened as he drew his face closer to hers. 

“What do you want?” She replied with a sly smile, her gaze locked on his.

Zaeed wrapped his arm around Shepard’s waist and kissed her deeply, arching her back further into the console.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, deepening their kiss even further.

Zaeed felt his face burn and his brain fizzle from the heat of their kiss, never wanting to part from this exact moment.

They kissed for several minutes without separating, and when they finally did part they both were breathless. 

“Shit, Shepard. I was not expecting this to happen when I joined your little suicide mission.”

“Tough shit, Mr. Massani.” She said in a near-whisper, her lips grazing his. “You’re in way too deep now.”

“I’m alright with that.” Zaeed replied, leaning in to kiss her again.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a second and final part of this fic planned that I’ll try to write very soon!


End file.
